Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Internship at Biosphere 2

LEO Introductory Video 11/15/11

In 2011, I spent the summer at Biosphere 2 (B2) in Arizona, assisting
Dr. Katerina Dontsova in the study of semiarid landscapes transitioning
from shallow-rooted grasslands to mixed vegetation savannas composed of
deeper-rooted shrubs. My experiment was part of the B2's Landscape Evolution Observatory (LEO). Visit the Biosphere 2 website at http://leo.b2science.org/ for more information on this amazing project. After my internship, I presented my research at American Geophysical Union
conference in San Francisco, CA, Dec. 2011. Please check out my poster in the attachment below! Biosphere 2 not
only facilitates interaction across scientific fields, which was essential to my
education, but allowed the precise manipulation of environmental variables in
controlled experiments, a feat that can scarcely be done anywhere
else on the planet. It was a rare delight to learn more about Earth
systems science and dryland habitats with such control over environmental variables. My REU experience has granted me substantial
preparation for my continued study of ecophysiology.